Now
by K M Rose
Summary: Our little hanyou strives to tell his little Kagome that he loves her.  But will he get the timing right? One shot.


Disclaimer: I do NOT own Inuyasha or any characters therein. I do however own that poem down there and the Across the Universe soundtrack (audible love!! - not as much as the Abbey Road album but it's enough)

* * *

_I was in love for the wrong reasons_

_Then I was blamed for something I didn't do_

_I dreamed I was asleep for a lifetime_

_Only to wake up and fall in love with you_

He knew what he wanted to say. He had been reciting it for months now, but he simply could not bring himself to tell her. Why?! It's not like it's any big deal or anything. He was brave. Right? He was courageous and daring. Yeah? Then why couldn't he tell the woman he loved that he, well, loved her? Fear. The fear of rejection kept him from uttering those three lovely, yet harmful words, "I love you." He was afraid that she wouldn't love him back for any number of reasons: he was a hanyou; he had once been in love with Kik—

"Inuyasha!!"

His listing was temporarily interrupted, and so was his ability to breathe properly, as that certain brown-eyed girl stepped out the enchanted well with a "fwoump!" and ran over to the slightly less downcast half-demon.

"Kagome, where were you!?" He asked harshly.

"Where do you think I was? I went home to get supplies and snacks and stuff! Jeez!" She rolled her eyes. "You sound so angry."

"Well, I was ready to head of in search of the rest of these damn jewel shards, but when I woke up the third time you weren't there!"

"I told you last night that I was going home!"

"Yeah, well…" He sort of trailed off, remembering that she had infact mentioned to he group that she was going to be gone most of the morning.

He followed her to Kaede's hut, stopping her before she went in. 'Now! Tell her now, you fool!!' His mind was screaming at him…

"Yes?" She asked.

…but like always, he chickened out. "Nothing." He muttered, as she went in.

* * *

"Kagome!" Shippo was eagerly waiting Kagome's return from home because she always brought him chicklet...or was it chunklet? "Do you have any chalklet?"

She couldn't help but smile his pronunciation. "Yes, Shippo, don't I always?"

As the kitsune was munching on his chocolate, Kagome noticed that Inuyasha had not followed her into the hut, and that neither Sango nor Miroku were present either. So, she walked towards the door to leave, when she heard everyone's voices from outside, and stopped.

"You have to tell her!" urged Sango.

"No! He can't just yet, because he doesn't know if she—"

"Shut up!" Inuyasha interrupted Miroku after realizing that they had been yelling, and that Kagome was just inside the hut. "Don't say anything to Kagome, ok? I will tell her in my own time, got it?"

"Tell me what?" She asked, a little put out that everyone knew something that involved her.

"Nothing." Lied the ever increasingly nervous hanyou.

"No. There is something that you were going to tell me and I want t o know what it is! It involves me, yeah? So, let's hear it."

'Now! Now! Now!' He ignored his brain. "There is nothing to tell you, ok? So leave me alone!"…and he ran off to the forest to "meditate" in some tree somewhere.

"Ok! So, I have an idea!" Said Sango, clapping her hands together. "All this running around trying to defeat Naraku, and trying to beat him to the shards has gotten all of us really stressed. Also, it is really hot out, so I propose we go swimming! And we could were those…uhh…bathing suits?...that Kagome got for us last week."

A lecherous grin crossed Miroku's face "Swimming…in bathing suits, you say?" His reaction to her suggestion perturbed Sango a little but she decided she would endure it for both Kagome and Inuyasha's sakes. They were in love. She knew it, Miroku knew, but the two of them didn't.

Kagome told Shippo that he was in charge of "holding down the fort" while the older kids went swimming. She promised to take him the next time. And off they went.

* * *

They had been swimming for about ten minutes, when Kagome remembered a game that she and her friends played in the pool in her time. Temporarily forgetting where (and when) she was, she said, "Let's play Marco Polo!" Miroku looked at Sango, who looked at Kagome. Both said "Play who?!" After explaining the rules the group decided who would be "it" and commenced playing. They played, and played, and played, and played. But as Sango and Miroku found out, an hour of Marco Polo get old and boring. "Wow! Kagome we have been out here for about and hour…and I'm tired so I am going to head back." Miroku agreed, "Do you need us to stay?"

"Oh. No, thank you. I think I'll stay and think for a while. But thank you for asking." So the monk and demon slayer left Kagome to her thoughts and day dreams.

* * *

His 'meditation' had been interrupted by distant laughter, 'Gah! That is so annoying!' he leapt from the tree to find out where the infernal racket of joy was coming from, so he could put and end to it. Bounding through the forest, he got closer and closer to the springs, where he saw Kagome resting against a natural formed division of rock in the spring. 'It must be now! It simply must be! How could timing get any better than this? Shit, I am so nervous. …No I'm not. I'll just handle this like I do any other situation. Stealth.'

He snuck around to the other side of the division (opposite Kagome) ad slipped in to the water, trying not to make ripples. Succeeding, he slowly made his way to the other side. "…Kagome."

His voice startled her. But because his arms and wrapped themselves around her slender waist she wasn't scared. Confused a little, but not scared.

"…Kagome, there is something that I want to tell you. I've wanted to tell you for such a very long time…"

"Tell me then" She pressed her body against his, as if to urge him on. She wanted to know!

"It's a poem, kinda of thing, that I thought of one night, while I was watching you sleep…please don't laugh."

"I won't." She promised.

"I was in love for the wrong reasons, and then I was blamed for something I didn't do. I dreamed I was asleep for a lifetime, only to wake up and fall in love with you….Kagome, I love you."

She quickly turned around to face him, and not even giving a second thought she kissed him full on the lips. Pulling away (after a few "moments") she said, "Inuyasha…I love you, too."


End file.
